Political Insanity and Dysfunction: Are we citizens to blame?

How American Politics Went Insane: In this widely cited article from The Atlantic, Jonathan Rauch starts with one blatant fact -- the systematic destruction of American politics as our means for negotiating pragmatic solutions to national and world problems. I have long called this the most horrendous damage done to the U.S., it's people and in fact the world, since politics is our method for negotiating shifts and navigating a path through shoals of rapid change.

 Ah, then Mr. Rauch proceeds to diagnose the cause, in a stunning pile of wrongheaded rationalizations. Rauch – who blends conservative philosophies with a vigorous pro-gay activism - starts by claiming that democrats are in a populist-loopy mess equal and comparable to the frothing frenzy that's happening among republicans. An assertion that’s already laughable and will prove more so, in coming weeks.

He further asserts — as a given, requiring no supporting evidence — that democrats share dogmatic responsibility for our current, pathologically dysfunctional Congress.

From those "givens" Rauch then claims that this purportedly universal dogmatic mania is attributable to the recent trend of democratically empowering voters to express their political will, dispensing with middlemen. In other words: blame the citizens.

Oh, I’ll concede that political intermediaries are, indeed, prescribed in the Constitution for some good reasons. And certainly one can point as a symptom to the populist rebellion by Republican voters against their own party’s elites. But the disease itself is entirely different than he portrays.

A century ago, the “progressive” states established initiative and referendum systems allowing voters more direct say. By Rauch’s reasoning, this would have been disastrous. But those states (now almost all of them are “blue"), have seen mostly positive results. For example, Californians joined voters in Oregon, Washington and many more blue states rebelling against the political caste - even those they like, in their own party - in order to banish the vile cheat known as gerrymandering.  Indeed, gerrymandering is an archetype of betrayal by middle-men for their own caste-benefit.  Democratic Party politicians were deservedly smacked by their constituents in western blue states where this crime has now largely  been undone.  

These also happen to be exactly the states where voters have risen up against the insane War on Drugs, insisting that it be moderated and made more sensible, starting with marijuana. And voters in many of these states have chosen new electoral codes that de-emphasize political party, resulting in more moderate legislators, both republican and democrat.

Notably, there have been no such voter rebellions in red states, where gerrymandering and all other forms of cheating (e.g. rigged voting machines) have been refined to a fine art by Rauch’s heroic middlemen.

Sure, one must be wary - as were the Founders - of surging populist passions, as clearly displayed by the trumpist phenomenon. But this manifests very differently between red states and blue. In the latter part of America , tempers have always — going all the way back to the Civil War — been moderated by pragmatism. It is states with the least citizen empowerment where we see a revived Confederacy and trumpism.

== The final rationalization of a dying movement ==

Rauch’s proclamation that (in effect) “both sides are crazy and at-fault!” has become the last ditch rallying cry of American conservatives who cannot bring themselves to admit the obvious.  That their side — particularly the TV, radio and web svengalis who spent decades stirring illogical and counterfactual populist rage among white males — is the one that is both crazy and at-fault for the deliberate destruction of American politics.

History makes this very clear. Whenever there is a Republican president and a Democratic Congress, budgets and enabling bills get passed. The GOP President’s agenda is used at the starting point for negotiations. From Nixon to Reagan to both Bushes, appointments got hearings and were mostly confirmed. Negotiations were tough — but they were negotiated.

In contrast, Democratic presidents always face a state of bilious war from Republican Congresses… with one year - 1995 - as a marked exception, when Speaker Newt Gingrich paused amid the preening fury of culture war, to negotiate legislation with Bill Clinton, for the good of the nation. (And Gingrich was punished for this by those great role models, Dennis Hastert, Tom DeLay, John Boehner and Paul Ryan, who jointly declared the “Hastert Rule” — to punish any GOP legislator who dared to negotiate independently with democrats over anything at all, without express permission from Roger Ailes.)  

For Mr. Rauch to suggest that anything even remotely equivalent happened on the democratic side would be dishonesty exponentiated.

The anno mirabilis of 1995 has never ever happened again. President Obama has had more appointments blocked than in the entire rest of the history of the U.S. combined. Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives since 1998 -- except for the two Pelosi years -- has been the laziest in American history, holding the fewest hearings and introducing the fewest bills since 1792. Other than a pipeline to let Canadian oil moguls skip their oil over U.S. territory to send it to China, can you name one other assertive, positive GOP goal? One? 

Let me be clear, if I seem partisan it is not because of "left versus right" issues.  I am among those who fought for the recent resurgence of interest in Adam Smith. Entrepreneurial enterprise, small business startups, competitive markets and innovation all do vastly better across the spans of democratic administrations.  Always.  Flat-fair-competitive-creative-productive enterprise is one of the chief victims of the recent, insane oligarchic putsch that has hijacked American conservatism.

No. Watch for this, boys and girls. Irrespective of his history in gay rights, Mr. Rauch is giving voice to the insidious right wing party line.  Unable to pretend any longer that their side is not insane, their agenda is to declare it’s all the people’s fault, and that their opponents are no better.  Hence the narrative - without a single smoking gun across 22 years and $100 million of desperate, 'investigative' trawling — of Clintonite “corruption.”

This has nothing to do with classic left or right. I am compelled to repeat --  since absolutely no one else points this out -- that market enterprise always (and I mean always) does better under democrats. As does fiscal responsibility. And – indeed – every other statistical metric of U.S. national health.  

No, this is not "left" versus "right." A better model is phase 8 of the American Civil War…

…but no. It truly is as simple as sane versus insane. The Murdochian-right’s outright war on science (along with every other knowledge profession in American life) says it all.  Whenever anyone tries the “both sides are the same” malarkey on you, do not accept it! 

We are in no less a time of critical choice than 1861. And I’ll not abide being called crazy… by lunatics.

== Election news & immigration and the TPP ==

Not-so-quietly, Mitt Romney is doing what Richard Nixon did, after similarly going down defeated in his 1960 run for the presidency.  Like Nixon, Romney is spending his time in the political wilderness doing favors for and collecting IOUs from every Republican on the map.  Those IOUs will be cashed. Do not doubt for an instant that Romney intends to come back, big time. You heard it here.  

Consider. Trump has received so far 13.3 million primary votes, the apparent extent of his fervid following. Mitt Romney got in the 2012 general election 60.9 million. And President Obama got nearly 66 million.

Why are Trump voters paranoid about immigration? “Racism” surely encapsulates, but way-oversimplifies. Still shallow and dumb, but better, try this: they fear that America is fundamentally changing, despite vast evidence that the children of recent immigrants become American even better than past generations did.

But no, the hypocrisy is vastly worse. For in fact these changes have almost nothing to do with ILLEGAL immigration, which has declined under every democratic president (especially from Mexico under Obama) and skyrockets during republican ones. 

Confused?  Then actually ponder it. The masters of the GOP benefit from floods of frightened undocumenteds who can’t complain and whose competition undermines unions. The Union leaders who influence democratic politicians want tough border controls!  And every democratic president has doubled the border patrol. And every Gopper prexy slashed it! (GWB had to raise it again, after 9/11.) Both parties have done a great job distracting their base from these factual contradictions.

Think! What’s changing the face of America is LEGAL immigration, which the democrats have loosened. Legals can join unions and become voters, hence demmies prefer legal over illegal influx.  Think! If you hate the changing face of America then do blame democrats, but for LEGAL immigration, which the GOP candidates never mention!

See it all explained here. 

So why do I support NAFTA and the TPP?  

Surprised? That I am siding with conservatives on this one? Ah, but my reasons are much better and farther-seeing than theirs. I want what will be beneficial for my grandchildren.

Vital to the American future is the uplifting of a middle class Mexico. Beyond it being morally good, it is the most pragmatic thing we can accomplish! Look. It is far easier to defend a short border with Honduras than where Trump wants to build his wall. Even if we lost some jobs to Mexico for a while, NAFTA was a gigantic plus, because today's skyrocketing Mexican middle class will buy megatons of US goods, day after tomorrow.  

Again, if by 2030 Mexico is another Canada, the U.S. will be vastly safer, richer and happier. I can think of no greater foreign policy goal, other than saving the planet.

The fact that no one, not even globalization defenders, ever mentions this fact is pathetic pandering.

As for the TPP? Well, it not only has the same effect, but labor laws, environmental laws and IP protection are all heavily beefed-up in countries that were rights scofflaws, like Vietnam.  Japan must, at long last, slash farm subsidies and end non-tariff barriers to US goods. Above all, if US intellectual creativity and patents are better defended, then we can benefit from what we do best.  Innovating.  Moreover, it turns all the nations of SE Asia and East Asia into out ALLIES in dealing with another nation that swipes a lot more jobs and inventions than all of them do, combined.

Disagree?  Fine. Line up your facts. But stop taking positions based on reflex ignorance.  What are you? Republicans?

== Where do you get your news? ==

Sorry, but some points just have to be hammered. In most blue states, the voting machines use paper ballots or receipts that can be tallied by hand, when a precinct is randomly audited. Which deters cheating. In most red states, there are no paper ballots or receipts. True auditing is impossible and thus the Secretary of State can order up any vote result he/she wants.

This is an even more spectacular example of cheating than gerrymandering, which is a high art in all but two red states... and which has been eliminated in all but a few blue states.

Likewise, ask almost any modern republican where he gets his news, he will answer generally Fox, or else ranters on Clear Channel of Breitbart/Drudge. Ask a democrat and you will get a wide variety of answers. MSNBC, which tried the Fox business model of creating a slavishly-nodding audience of highly profitable dittoheads... is on the verge of bankruptcy because liberals are too diverse and tend to wander away from rants.

It is in these matters - not the surface policy declarations - where you see the true and essential differences between... not dems vs goppers, but the Union vs the Confederacy.

  

== Final Addenda ... I promise ==

The Elephant and the Bad Baby is a children’s book from 1971 with weird pertinence for our time. “Whenever the bad, red-headed baby wants something, the big elephant gets it for him.”  

Oh... more on the Trump-Putin bromance... Inside Trump's financial ties to Russia and his unusual flattery of Vladimir Putin. Seriously, you folks are kidding, right? This is all just a practical joke?

If so, the folks at Washington DC's Republican Capitol Club aren't laughing.  I had dinner there last month (tasty food) while in town for NASA meetings and you could cut the dour mood of the staff and members with a knife! Then I looked at the newsletter of this ancient and venerable club. It showed an elephant with upraised trunk, bellowing proudly. When elephants do that, do you know what it's called?

Yes, the newsletter is "The Trumpeter." 

When I raised an eyebrow over this, the woman behind the desk growled defensively: "We've had that name for 50 years!"

No, they aren't happy.